Serghei Jucov (born 1958) is a Moldovan military officer and politician who is currently Regent to the underage King Aurel II of that country. Many criticize him as becoming a virtual dictator by combining the political powers of both the monarch and the Prime Minister. Others consider him a stabilizing influence who has proven himself an inspiring leader and reformer.

Early Life

Jucov was a second generation officer in the Royal Moldovan Army. His father, Radu Jucov (1911-1968 was a Colonel in the Second Great War, and was a POW for two years in that conflict. He was not returned to his home by the Russians until 1956, and died when his son was ten.

Young Serghei was an excellent student who idolized his father and longed to follow his footsteps into the army. Under Snor-ist rule this was difficult, but not impossible. Unable to win an appointment to the Officers Academy, he enlisted rather than attend college, although he could easily have attended the Moldovan college of his choice via scholarship given his examination results. His army service was unremarkable for many years, although good work won him steady promotion and eventually a promotion to Lieutenant. He applied for further training and eventually such was approved. Distinguishing himself in a series of Romanian War Games, he had risen to Major by the time of the fall of the SNOR. A purge of pro-Russian military officers followed, which nearly finished his career. Instead, he won rapid promotion, at least in part due to the relative scarcity of senior officers following the Purge.

He had just won the rank of General, one of the youngest in the nation, when a heart attack put him out of commission for nearly a year. As he recovered, he decided to resign and pursue a different career, in politics. Some people noted this followed his marriage to a Moldovan Senator's daughter, Sofia Ivanov, first cousin to Petru II's queen, Nadia.

The couple have two children, Petru (born 1991) and Erzebet (born 1994).

Politics and High Office

Associating himself with the Pan-Romanian groups that had arisen in the 1990s, Jucov won election to the Chamber of Deputies easily enough and was one of those befriended by the King. In fact, some thought it unseemly that a relatively junior legislator be one of the royal "inner circle."

Given his relation to the Queen, albeit by marriage, and his relative popularity, it was little wonder his name was bandied about as a member of a Regency Council in the wake of King Petru's sudden death. He was not among the original to be the council, but when one person declined to serve for reasons of health, Jucov took his place. In 2001 he ran for Prime Minister, and won in a runoff election after no single candidate received a majority. In 2003, the Regency Council was dissolved and Jucov himself was made sole Regent. This was also when he received an honorary promotion of Field Marshal in keeping with his new rank.

Policies

In keeping with is party's avowed aims, Jucov has instituted government regulation of many industries within Moldova as well as a minimal national health care plan and overseen an overhaul of the mass transit system. This has been met with both enthusiasm and bitterness, not least in the wake of more than one scandal involving bribery of government officials.

Still more controversial has been establishing a more precise regulation of the airwaves and of the press. His advocates point out the new rules are precise and (they say) reasonable, allowing police and the courts to do their jobs and giving people specific recourse in the case of slander. Critics maintain this is a way of simply controlling the press, mostly by applying pressure with threats of ruinous fines.

Jucov has been a strong advocate of the "Federal Defense Plan" in which each member state of the Romanian Federation is primarily responsible for one arm of the Federation's defense--Oltenia, the air, Muntenia the sea, and Moldova the land. This would call for Moldova's army to be senior to that of Muntenia and Oltenia (while their respective air force and navy would be senior to Moldova's. And so forth. But, as critics point out, this means deploying different militaries all over the Federation.

He is also a quiet advocate of the movement to include Transylvania into Romania. Certainly, he has allocated major funds to upgrading the army. Indeed, many blame this for the deficit spending in which his government has engaged.